Oh yeah, Greg... John Calhoun was a redneck of the highest order... But he was not alone... Yeah, I very much do blame the leaders in the South fir continuing to preech hatred... They're still very much at it except hatred has been codified but everyone knows the code (wink, wink) including black folk livin' in the South... Actually, IMHO, the black folk have adapted alot better than Redneck Nation... They understand that "can't we all just get along" stuff where Redneck Nation doesn't want to get along and is proud of it... I mean, they have their heros who also don't want to get along.... You know, like the Stroker Aces and the Hank William Juniors... "We say grace and we say mam and if you ain't into that we don't give a damned"... Plus they have their very own publicly broaqdcast hate chalnnel in FOX so there is really no pressures being put on them to behave like real human beings... I see it every day... I am completely surrounded by these folks... They don't give a second thought to referring to black folks as niggers... I mean, not a second thought... And if someone pointed it out to them they'd go "Huh???"...

As for Lincoln, I will admit that he grew into the job but that was after he bungled things to the point where the nation was at war with itself...

B~